Their Moment Is Their Moment
by daylighters
Summary: A series of one shots and drabbles revolving around none other than the cowboy and the city girl, the prince and the princess themselves - Riley Matthews and Lucas Friar ... and their everyday moments.
1. Awkward

**A/N: Hey, everyone! So, I decided to start a one shot series for Rucas, because I love them so darn much. (I want to start one for Faya, as well, if anyone is actually interested.) I'll try to update as frequently as possible without losing track of my multi-chapter. :3**

 **Anyways, this is set a couple weeks before Girl Meets Gravity, and I hope you guys like it! Annnd I don't own Girl Meets World. But hey, I might someday. In my dreams, I mean.**

. . .

Awkwardness was something that was not exactly uncommon for Riley Matthews.

Growing up the girl that she was, she was never surprised when she ended up in an paralyzing awkward situation. She had learned quite a lot from the 'boop' incident, fired by jealousy over how close Lucas and Missy were getting. Situations that you didn't feel comfortable in were going to pop up throughout your entire life. What mattered most was how you handled the situation or problem, and whether or not you allowed it to help you grow as a human being.

Also, when your father is your seventh grade history teacher and he insists upon giving you The Talk in front of the entire class, nothing shocks you much anymore.

Which of course reminded her of another event. Subway. Falling into her date's lap, grabbing him by the face and ...

"-kissing him like there was no tomorrow!"

Riley's best friend, Maya Hart, seemed unable to let the kiss between Riley and Lucas go. It was practically all she had talked about this summer, always bringing it up the instant Riley thought she was finally getting over it. Maya, blond fireball that she was, was convinced that Lucas and Riley needed to address to kiss before they went back to school. Because if they didn't, she was somewhat afraid that their peers might pressure them into something they may not be ready for quite yet.

Which Riley thought was rather humorous. She knew that she could handle whatever life tossed her way, as could Lucas. They were teenagers, after all, and they were all about to become kings within no time at all. The start of eighth grade was only a few weeks away, and even though Riley was not totally convinced that her father was not going to be her history teacher this year, too, she was looking forward to it nonetheless.

"It was a simple peck on the lips, Maya," Riley murmured for what felt like the hundredth time that day alone.

Her fierce blond friend smiled disbelievingly, nodding. "Sure, sure it was, Riley. But you both wanted it to be more than that, didn't you? I mean, I know that he did. He is a teenage guy, so there's no shocker there, but you-"

"Maya!" Riley cried, interrupting her friend before she could even consider continuing. "I'm only thirteen years old, are you really going to insist that I wanted it to be more than an innocent little kiss?"

Maya paused for a long moment before nodding again. "Yeah. I do. I don't care if you're only thirteen, Riles, I know the way you feel about him. You like him, a lot. That much is obvious. And typically people enjoy kissing people they like for a pretty long time. Haven't you ever watched those movies about the vampire and the human? They make out, like, all the time."

Riley raised an eyebrow quizzically. "So you're saying you want to kiss my Uncle Josh for a long period of time?"

The blond girl shrugged. "Isn't it obvious?"

Riley shuddered slightly, stumbling away from her best friend. "That is absolutely the last thing I needed to hear, and definitely the worst thing I've heard in my young little life."

Maya smirked suddenly, taking a couple steps towards her best friend. "Aww, are you sure that's really the last thing you've ever heard? Because come on, it's pretty obvious you feel the same way about your cowboy, right?"

The brunette bit her lower lip lightly, twiddling with her thumbs nervously. "Maybe," she answered at last. "But why does it even matter to you, Maya?"

"Uh, maybe 'cause he's right behind you? I probably should have mentioned that before you spilled your guts, so ... my bad."

Riley spun around almost immediately, her face already heating up instinctively. Sure enough, there was Lucas with Farkle at his side. She plastered a nervous grin on her face, laughing breathlessly. "Oh, hi," she said awkwardly, laughing again. It was starting to sound more like a screech of hysteria as every second passed, though.

"Hey," he said quietly, grinning back just as nervously.

"This is going to be really uncomfortable for all of us, isn't it?" Farkle asked Maya softly, his eyebrows raising ever so slightly.

The girl with the long blond hair nodded again, smiling excitedly. "Yes, it is. Would you happen to have any popcorn on you, Farkle? Because this is the type of event that definitely deserves popcorn."

Riley ignored them both, intently focusing on the grass beneath her feet. Maya had barely convinced her to exit her apartment building that day, the brunette girl too terrified of something painfully awkward occurring. She usually liked it very much when she was right, but this was not one of those occasions. "Funny seeing you here ... at the park."

Lucas furrowed his eyebrows together tightly, somewhat taken aback. "Maya texted Farkle and I, telling us both to meet you guys here. She said you thought it had been too long since we had all hung out together, so you figured it might be a good idea to catch up."

Riley whipped her head up right away, spinning around to face her best friend. "Do our friendship rings matter so little to you that you would go behind my back like that?!" She was almost screaming now, hysteria officially beginning to sink in. The only way to avoid that wonderful feeling of pure, undeniable panic was screeching at Maya.

It made sense to Riley, at least.

Maya laughed lightly, shaking her head to herself. "This is for your own good, Riles. Yours, too, Huckleberry. You guys have to talk about it eventually, and unless you want to risk Mr. Matthews overhearing ..." she trailed off.

"You two planned this," Riley accused, gesturing between Farkle and Maya frantically.

The two friends glanced at each other fleetingly before shrugging. "Yeah," they said shamelessly.

"You know what, I feel so dumb but it completely slipped my mind. I'm actually supposed to get home really soon because my mother and father want me to babysit Auggie so they can ... go grocery shopping. They haven't gone in a pretty long time and then don't want to disrupt his quiet, innocent little life with the hustle and bustle of desperate shoppers at the market, so ..." Riley laughed nervously. She knew that she was rambling, that much was very obvious to her and everybody surrounding her. What she did not know was how to stop.

"And I have ... homework," Lucas said lamely. "Lots of homework."

"Hey, Ranger Rick, we haven't started school yet and you already told Farkle you finished whatever homework that was assigned to us back in June," Maya pointed out unhelpfully.

Riley forced another giggle, fiddling with her fingers. "Well, that's super funny but I honestly need to get home. Alone, because of course you guys know what happened the last time I tried to babysit my younger brother with my friends around. We wouldn't want another repeat of that disaster-"

"Hey, I thought it was pretty fun!" Maya interrupted indignantly.

Riley continued as if she had not even heard her. "So, I should most likely get going. I'll talk to you guys later," she added half-heartedly. She flashed everyone a brief smile before turning back around, brushing past Lucas and walking quickly.

Maya snickered quietly. "You guys do know that she was lying, right?"

"What makes you think that?" Lucas asked softly, staring after Riley's retreating silhouette. "She seemed to be telling the truth, don't you think, Farkle?"

"No," Farkle paused, exchanging a smile with Maya. "She's going in the wrong direction."


	2. Blue Sky

There were a lot of things that Riley Matthews liked. She was a very loving person, and nothing could ever change that. She would never allow anything to ruin that, it mattered far too much to her. She could appreciate the smaller things in life that sometimes, people had the habit to take for granted. All because of the lessons her father and mother have taught her.

She appreciated the lunch she ate in the cafeteria every afternoon at school, and the woman that made them. She appreciated her parents, her friends, and the rest of her family. She appreciated the special moments in life where everything feels all right. The moments when she feels content and relaxed, without a care in the world. She even appreciated the fact that she had the opportunity to learn, because she had realized that there were many people in other countries denied that privilege.

She was Riley Matthews. She loved anything and everything. Even the people that certainly didn't deserve her undying love.

Right now, however, she wasn't dwelling on negative things, like those who didn't care about her the way she cared about them, those who blew her off like she was nothing. She was simply sitting outside her apartment building, staring up at the sky. It was September, and very bright and sunny outside. Nonetheless, it wasn't exactly hot outside. Somewhat warm, but in a comfortable, soothing way. She loved it. (No surprise there.)

There were only a couple puffy white clouds in the sky, although even creative little Riley Matthews couldn't see anything besides giant, white blobs. She laughed quietly at her, turning her head so she could focus on the bright blue sky again. It was an exceptionally beautiful color today, one of the prettiest shades of blue that the brunette girl had ever seen.

She had learned that whenever life spirals out of control, the best thing you can do is go outside and be around nature. It was a tad bit more difficult to be around nature in New York City, but then again, there was always the sky. The sky had always been there, to the point where the majority of humanity took it for granted. They assumed it would always be there and nothing could ever change that.

Selfish as it seemed, she vaguely wondered if maybe she was Lucas Friar's sky.

He had been assuming quite a lot of things lately. He had automatically thought that they were going to the semi-formal together because of their so-called unofficial thing. Something that she wasn't even sure existed. Because, really, who would want a pretty brunette when they could have a beautiful blond fireball?

She knew there was a difference between pretty and beautiful. Everyone knew that. Pretty meant average; all right. Beautiful meant, well ... beautiful. Above average. Riley Matthews had never been the kind of person to pay very much attention to looks, that just wasn't her thing. But she had been dwelling on it quite a lot recently, wondering what exactly was going on between her and Lucas. She had caught onto what Maya had implied while she was pretending to be her. Maya thought that Riley only viewed Lucas as a brother, or some other platonic thing.

She couldn't bring herself to correct her best friend. She barely even knew why. Aside, of course, from the fact that she knew her best friend deserved to be happy. Riley was a smart girl, she knew that Lucas could make Maya happy if her fireball of a best friend let him. But Maya would never let that happen as long as Riley had feelings for pretty much went against the invisible best friend guidebook.

And so here she was, trying so hard to disguise how much pain she was feeling but plastering a huge, fake smile on her face whenever anyone glanced in her direction. It was the right thing to do, pretend that Maya was correct and her feelings for Lucas were completely platonic. Even if Riley knew otherwise, she couldn't possibly risk messing up her best friend's chance at happiness.

She couldn't risk screwing up Lucas's chance at happiness, either.

Her classmates all thought that Maya and Lucas belonged together, and Riley was beginning to see why. She saw the way he had acted when art classes were so close to being cut. He had never acted that way whenever something was going wrong for Riley. In fact, as sad as it made her to admit, he caused a lot of her problems these days. The semi-formal situation was the perfect example. He had gone against all odds and taken Riley for granted.

And it hurt. God, it hurt.

Everyone seemed to think that Lucas was better off without Riley Matthews, that little ray of sunshine who would end up smiling herself to death someday. That cut deep, too, but not quite as much as her Lucas problems did. She couldn't even begin to understand why it was so painful. She wanted Maya to be happy. She wanted Lucas to be happy. Wouldn't it just be an added bonus if they could make each other happy?

Riley glanced away from the sun then, its stunningly bright color bringing her down instead of lifting her up. She was angry at herself for ruining a perfectly good afternoon with her dark thoughts, but soon enough the anger faded. Now all she was left with was sadness and disappointment.

Maybe Maya had been right all those months ago. Maybe hope was for suckers. That must make Riley a sucker, then, considering the fact that she had gotten her hopes up very high over Lucas Friar, the "cowboy" from Texas.

Riley Matthews was a sucker. And apparently, this was where her story with Lucas was going to end. A modern fairytale with no happy endings, just like all those pop songs suggested. Except, of course, that was not entirely accurate.

Lucas and Maya could have a cliche fairytale with an extremely happy ending. And Riley would back away and let it be, pretend to be happy for them. A few more forced smiles couldn't hurt anyone, right? What mattered most was that the guy she liked -quite a lot- and her best friend could finally be happy.

That was all she ever wanted. Even if it meant letting him go.

. . .

 **A/N: I'm not even sure where this came from. I'm feeling a bit down today, and I'm guessing that's why this happened. I promise I'll post a happier one shot soon. Thank you for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting! It means** ** _so_** **much to me. c: You guys are awesome!**


	3. Conflict

**A/N: So, this is set during Girl Meets Mr. Squirrels, which I'm guessing is kind of obvious haha. It's just a tiny little one shot, but I hope you guys like it nonetheless. Thank you for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting! Annnd I do not own Girl Meets World.**

. . .

"Please don't start anything with Maya over me."

I rolled my eyes at Lucas, toying with a loose thread on my shirt. "I'm not starting anything with Maya over you, Lucas. She's overreacting, but everything is going to turn out perfectly fine. You shouldn't worry about it."

He sighed, leaning against the lockers next to mine. We had just gotten out of my dad's class, and Maya and I were currently still at war. She wouldn't even look at me, let alone speak to me. Still, I was pretending that her freezing me out didn't bother me at all. And what better way for it to actually not bother me than having a conversation with one of my favorite people to talk to?

Realizing that he still thought this was his fault, I flashed him a smile. "Lucas, like I said, you shouldn't worry about it. Everything's going to be okay. According to my father, he already has a plan. I guess he's calling in backup or whatever."

Lucas raised his eyebrows. "What kind of backup?"

I shrugged. "Not a clue. But knowing my dad, it's going to be some total genius who can fix things even better than I can. That's the only type of person my dad would trust with a situation this fragile."

"Still, it sucks to see you guys fighting."

"It sucks to be fighting," I muttered before speaking up. "But it most definitely is not your fault. Maya's made that extremely clear," I added, reluctantly risking a glimpse at my blond friend. She was bickering with Farkle over something, but I wasn't close enough to hear what it was. I sighed silently, tugging out my English textbook and quietly shutting my locker.

"Riley-"

"Lucas," I interrupted. Nothing that he said was going to change my mind. I was hoping he could accept that while we were both still ahead. "We should probably get to English class."

He stared at me for a long moment, green eyes meeting brown, before seemingly shrugging in defeat. "Yeah, okay. But you know, I'm still right about this one. You two wouldn't even be arguing if I had just-"

I held up a single hand to silence him, balancing my textbook on my other arm. "Lucas. Maya already made it pretty clear that the only reason we're at war is because I didn't defend her. This is my problem, not yours. Will you please, please quit blaming yourself for a fight that has nothing to do with you? Besides, Maya and I already know better than to get into a fight over a boy." I shuddered, remembering the situation with Farkle. That had been awkward.

Lucas chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I remember hearing about that one. But still, would this technically count as getting into an argument over a boy? It sounds more like getting into a fight over something that someone said."

"No, it sounds like two teenage girls going to war because one did not defend the other simply because what was said to one was true."

"You know that barely made any sense."

"I know," I grinned widely. "Now, can we please get to class? You know how strict our English teacher is, and he has that obsession with going on and on about the so-called good old days if any of his students are late ..." I trailed off.

We both shuddered this time.

Lucas recovered first, cracking a small smile. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. That's the last thing I want to hear. But this doesn't mean you've won this, you know that, right? I still think-"

"I still disagree," I interjected, smiling innocently. We fell in step easily, already on our way to our English class. "So, is there anything else going on in your world that I should know about? Besides two of your friends going at war, of course. I already know about that one."

He laughed, lightly brushing his arm against mine. "No, nothing much. Zay and I have kind of been catching up, though. It's actually pretty nice, spending time with him. And I think he's finally beginning to accept the whole people change people thing."

I smiled wider. "That's amazing. I'm really happy for you."

He grinned slightly, glancing down and briefly brushing his hand against mine. Neither of commented on this, knowing that for our luck our peers would overhear and try to pressure us to be together. Again. "Thanks, Riley. So, you're not upset over me not telling you everything, right?"

"Of course not," I said, sounding somewhat offended. He shot me a blank look, and I bit my lip lightly. "All right, so I was a little upset at first."

He raised his eyebrows again. "A little? You dumped a bucket of soapy water on my head after spraying me non-stop."

I grinned sheepishly. "Have I ever apologized for that?"

"Nah. You don't need to, though."

"Well, I'm still going to. I'm sorry. I should have understood that you were planning on telling me on your own time ... right?" I tacked on hesitantly. I wasn't too certain I wanted to hear his answer to this question, but it wasn't like I could hide out forever. I had been wondering about this almost constantly, and it was about time I finally ask him about it.

Lucas nodded. "Of course I was. I guess I just didn't want to risk scaring you away. It's stupid."

We were lingering outside of our English classroom now, with a few students brushing past us on their way inside. He caught the door for me, holding it open. Smiling slightly, I walked inside, but stayed rooted in place besides the teacher's desk.

"I can understand that much, and I'm very sorry to burst your bubble, but you could never scare me away, Lucas." And it was true; he couldn't. I was already too attached to him to run off just because his past was darker than I had assumed it was. I liked him and he liked me and that was what mattered most in a situation like this.

We cared about each other. We shouldn't let a little conflict get in the way and completely destroy that.

Lucas stared at me for a minute, still holding the door wide open before seemingly snapping out of it. He strode inside, quietly closing the door behind him. "Thank you, Riley."

"You're welcome."


	4. Favorites

"Favorite color?" I challenged, smiling innocently.

It was Saturday afternoon, and Lucas and I were hanging out at the park. Maya had plans with her mom and Uncle Shawn, and Farkle was getting ready for another spelling bee against Einstein Academy, so it was just the two of us this afternoon. Not that I minded - I would be lying if I said I didn't like having one on one time with Lucas. He was one of my closest friends, after all.

He laughed. "Brown. What's yours?"

"Green," I answered automatically. Usually I would have said purple, but it was hard to remember any other colors while I was looking into his eyes. Yep, I was your typical middle school girl with a huge crush. But I didn't mind that, either.

Lucas paused, and I worried for a second that he didn't believe me, but then he seemingly shrugged it off, grinning again. "What's your favorite school subject?"

I smiled in spite of myself. "Don't tell anyone, but ... history. English is pretty great, too, though. I love the things that Harper teaches us. But what's yours?"

"History, too," he chuckled. "But yeah, she's pretty fantastic."

I nodded, fiddling with my fingers awkwardly. "What's your favorite food?"

"Probably angel's food cake ... I don't know, I've always loved it. What's yours?"

I shrugged simply, leaning back against the park bench we were sitting on. "There's so many different foods, it's hard to pick just one. So I'm going to have to skip on that question. And even though I know it's your turn to ask the next question, curiosity is getting the best of me, so would you mind if I asked you another question?" This was one question I was extremely nervous to ask, but I couldn't keep it bottled up forever. It was going to come out eventually, and it might be slightly better if it were to come out while we were actually playing the Questions Game. Or whatever this little game was actually called, I wasn't too certain.

All I knew is that we always took turns asking and answering each other's questions whenever it was just the two of us. It might seem a bit weird or even awkward to outsiders, but to us, it was just how we allowed our friendship to grow. At first we had started with more complicated questions, considering the fact that we had started this little habit around the time that Zay moved out here. Which meant that we were just now getting to the more simplistic questions.

I was about to completely mess all of that up, though, by asking a more serious question. The type of question that was sure to inevitably cause an awkward moment afterwards. But "awkward" was pretty much my middle name, so I wasn't exactly worried. You get used to it after a couple years of intense awkwardness.

"You know you can ask me anything."

"Who's your favorite person in the entire universe? The one condition is that you can't lie," I added gently. Although I figured he would probably name someone in his family or Farkle (since they were best friends, after all), I was still scared to death that he might say Maya. They had been getting closer and closer lately, ever since the yearbook and semi-formal incidents, but I knew I needed to ask him this eventually. And if he said her name, that would be okay, too. As long as everyone was happy, I would be all right.

In theory, at least.

Lucas paused for a long moment, apparently thinking something over. I immediately jumped to the worst possible assumption and realized that he was most likely trying to figure out a way to let me down easy and tell me that it was Maya. Maybe he would say that it had always been Maya. After all, the photo that was used to the Favorite Couple thing in the yearbook was fairly old, right? Judging by that, our peers had been seeing this coming for a really long time. So what if that meant he had feelings for my best friend, and had been having feelings for her since a long time ago?

"Promise you won't freak out?" he finally asked, eyebrows raised slightly.

I nodded. There was no way I was going to freak out. I had been preparing myself for this moment since the day I decided to become Morotia M. Black. It wasn't going to catch me off guard now, all these weeks later. "I promise, Lucas."

"Well, you."

It took me a minute to comprehend what he had just said. "Huh?" I eventually asked once I had remembered how exactly to speak.

So Lucas Friar had the talent to render me completely speechless. It wasn't something I was proud of, but I suppose there could be worse things going on in my life. I wasn't going to begin complaining over the fact that I had more than friends feelings for someone I had my first kiss with.

He laughed lightly, although it sounded a bit off. Almost like he was actually nervous right now. "I just told you that you're my favorite person in the entire universe, Riley. Without lying, too. But it's nothing big, so things don't have to be awkward between us or anything. I mean, you already know how I feel about you."

Actually, I didn't. The lines had been getting more and more blurry these past few weeks, especially after the yearbook and art class scenarios. But right now, it almost felt like nothing had changed between us. We were the same Lucas and Riley we had been since that morning I fell into his lap on the subway. And nothing anyone said was going to ruin us.

Sure, the right pressure could turn you into a diamond. But like my mom said, the wrong pressure could turn you into dust. Neither of us wanted to be dust, and now I knew for sure that we weren't going to be. We had the potential to be similar to a diamond - beautiful, unique, and absolutely breathtaking. It would just take its own time. And it was okay if we weren't ready for a relationship at the moment - we would be ready sooner or later. Nothing anyone said or insisted was going to change who we were. Because we still do what we do.

"That couldn't possibly make anything awkward between us," I murmured. Then, speaking up, I added, "You're my favorite person, too."

And it was true. He was. As much as I loved Maya and my parents and Farkle and Josh and everyone else in my life, something was different about Lucas. He made me feel like anything was possible, and like everything was going to be okay in the end.

I didn't know what this meant quite yet. But that was okay, too.

He was still my favorite.

. . .

 **A/N: Thank you for reading and reviewing! It makes my day to hear from you guys, and I hope you liked this chapter. As you can probably tell, this was set after Creativity, I Am Farkle, and Cory & Topanga. I felt like another cutesy Rucas moment couldn't possibly hurt. ;D **

**Also, I still don't own Girl Meets World. Sigh. This still makes me feel so sad.**


	5. Stay In Rileytown

**A/N: Contains spoilers for tonight's episode, Girl Meets Rileytown. Read at your own risk. ;D**

. . .

There were about a million emotions Lucas Friar was feeling, but he could only easily identify one of them.

Anger.

Someone actually had the nerve to say anything cruel to Riley Matthews - the princess of niceties and fixing everything and everyone. The giver of endless second chances. And, did he need to mention "princess" again? Because after all, that's what she was. She always had been, even before he came around. And what kind of sick person decides to bully a princess?

He knew it was over with. The bully had runaway, and the princess was happy again. In theory, at least. He knew her better than that, though - he knew her just as well as Maya did, and Maya had been her best friend since practically forever. But that was besides the point. The point was that someone actually hurt his Riley - well, wait. She wasn't technically his anymore.

Still, somebody had hurt Riley. And despite how the situation had played out, he was still mad. Of course he was - that was to be expected. Farkle, Zay, even Maya had seen that coming. He was not exactly fond of people hurting his friends, but with Riley it was even worse.

She was the definition of "good," but that word seemed too plain to describe Riley Matthews. She was goofy, and funny, and sweet, and everything. She was everything. And some random person had decided to try to make her feel like she was nothing. Not only that, they had almost succeeded. The girl had almost done what everyone thought was impossible and broke Riley.

"You're okay now, right?"

Lucas looked up, pressing his lips together tightly. He shouldn't even be shocked - she had been getting bullied for weeks, and yet here she was, asking him if he was okay. It was so Riley. He still couldn't comprehend why in the world anybody would ever want to make her feel so terrible. "I'm fine." It was one of those little white lies Mr. Matthews had warned them about back in seventh grade. But what was he supposed to do? She had already made it extremely clear back in her bedroom that she didn't like Texas Lucas. He had come so far, and it had all been because of her - he couldn't mess that up now.

Even if that was all he wanted to do. He knew that he couldn't.

"Are you okay?" he pressed, quickly changing the subject. Like Mr. Matthews said, and truth always did end up coming out no matter how hard you tried to hide it. Lucas had already learned his lesson about that one when Zay came out to New York. But this was one thing he was hoping he could keep secret. No need for her to be even more disappointed in him.

Riley cracked a small smile, glancing around the deserted hallways. She had done her little Riley Awards after school, like always, but everybody was long gone now. Maya, Farkle and Zay had reluctantly left just a few minutes ago, but made Lucas and Riley promise to meet them at Topanga's cafe in a little bit. They knew that it would be best to leave Riley and Lucas to themselves, even if it was only for a couple moments. There were things they needed to discuss.

"I'm fine," she said at last, her voice gentle as always. "But seriously, are you sure you're all right? You really aren't going to go all Texas Lucas, right?"

Lucas shook his head. He had already promised himself that nothing could ever change him back into that person. It was a lot more difficult to keep that promise after hearing about what had happened to Riley, but hey. Life was hard. He might as well get used to it while he was still a teenager. "Riley, nothing is ever going to turn me into that person again. I couldn't do that to you."

She smiled a little wider, but it still was not one of her classic Riley Matthews grins. He knew she would get there eventually, but it still hurt to realize that this had actually occurred. And he hadn't been there to stop it, to keep the girl from hurting Riley. "Do you promise?"

More promises. Sometimes it felt like she could read his mind. "I swear."

She laughed somewhat breathlessly, clumsily sinking down to the floor and resting the back of her head against the lockers. "Thank you, Lucas."

She still seemed so fragile to him somehow. He knew that she wasn't - Riley was strong and brave and it had taken a situation like this to remind him of that fact. Lucas chuckled humorlessly, hesitantly sitting besides her, fiddling with his fingers. "Yeah, well, I would do anything for you."

"You pretty much proved that earlier," Riley murmured, brushing her dark brown hair out of her eyes with her hand. She dropped her hand after a few seconds, abruptly looking over at him. "Lucas, you need to realize that I have to take care of myself sometimes. I'm not going to let you give up all the progress you've made this past year and a half because some girl said a few mean things to me."

Lucas raised his eyebrows, his hands freezing in place. "Riley, they didn't just say a few mean things to you. They were basically harassing you, of course I'm going to get upset. You're one of my best friends, and I don't want anything happening to you. Not only that, you deserve so much better than getting bullied for what kind of person you are."

"A goofy, overly happy little weirdo," she mumbled, almost under her breath.

He knew she wasn't completely fine just yet. And there was that anger again. not directed at her, of course, it could never be directed towards her. No, the only person that was making him see red at the moment was the girl that had done this to Riley. "I happen to love that about you."

Riley paused for a long moment, keeping his dark eyes trained on him before glancing back down at her lap. She swallowed hard before speaking again. "Are you sure about that? Because apparently some people find it annoying."

"I'm positive. Riley, that's who you are. But you're also the most wonderful and selfless person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Don't let what people say about you drag you down, okay? You're completely amazing, no matter what people who don't even know you say to you."

Her cell phone beeped then, and both friends flinched. Riley hesitated for the briefest of seconds before tugging her phone out, unlocking it and opening her messages. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she saw who it was, looking back up at Lucas. "It's Maya. She's getting worried about us ... apparently we've been here longer than I thought."

Lucas bit his bottom lip gently before reluctantly standing up, holding out his hand. She paused, blinking quickly before seemingly shrugging something over, grasping his hand and allowing him to pull her upright. He dropped her hand once she was standing, fiddling with his fingers again. "We better get going, then."

Riley nodded in agreement before smiling again. It still wasn't her usual wide grin, but it was sincere and that was good enough for him. "And Lucas?"

"Yeah?"

She stood up slightly straighter, pursing her lips fleetingly before leaning up and lightly pressing her lip against his cheek. "Thank you for everything," she whispered before stepping away, already striding towards the exit.

He lingered in the hallways for a moment, trying to comprehend what had just happened before smiling to himself. "Anytime," he muttered under his breath before quickly heading after her.

. . .

 **A/N: Hope you guys liked it! And what were you thoughts on tonight's episode? I personally think that it is the best they've done so far, and I'm extremely proud of the entire cast and crew. They're all so talented, and I'm unbelievably happy that they created and episode like this. Feel free to leave your thoughts on basically anything!**

 **Also, I don't own Girl Meets World. I kinda wish I was a writer for the show, though ... hmm.**


	6. I Won't Mind

_"I won't mind, even though I know you'll never be mine."_

. . .

The lie still burns in my mouth, tasting similar to what I assumed acid would taste. My stomach aches painfully, and it's spreading quickly. My legs, my arms, my hands ... everything hurt. Deep down, I knew that this was the right thing to do. Letting him go for Maya's sake, I mean. She had barely known any happiness throughout her whole life. What sort of person would I be if I took away her chance at finally being happy?

The kind of person that I never wanted to be. I wanted to be selfless, I wanted to fix things and make everybody happy. Even if it was at my own expense. That was the thing that I needed to do, the thing that I absolutely had to do, and nothing could change my mind. Besides, there would be other boys. There would be better times, and in the future this wouldn't even hurt anymore. I would be fine within no time at all.

It was always supposed to be Lucas and Maya. Maya and Lucas. They were like pieces of a puzzle, yin and yang, and they were finally going to fit together. Maya wouldn't feel the need to back off to protect me, because there was no reason why anything involving them being more than friends should hurt me. He was like my brother. That's all Lucas Friar was to me - a brotherly figure.

Maybe if I kept telling myself that, I would eventually begin to believe it.

The look on his face when the words slip out still cuts deep, and it's difficult to look away. Almost like a train wreck, and this time, I'm the only person to blame. I take a deep breath once he looks away, trying to improve my facade. For any of this to work out, Lucas needed to believe me. It shouldn't be too hard, I already had Maya convinced, after all. All of our classmates can see Maya and Lucas as a couple, Zay thought there was something between them when the art classes were being cut, and now here we were. Once he thought about what I said, he would see that I was right. We had a brotherly-sisterly relationship, and that was perfectly fine. Then he could be with Maya.

They could be the fire that everyone already thought that they were. Lighting up each other's worlds. Just like it was supposed to be.

All of this was, in theory, going to make me feel better inside. My two best friends were going to be happy, and wasn't it even better that they were going to make each other happy? I should be overjoyed for them, considering how deeply I care about the both of them.

After all, who cares if you don't kiss your brother? Things like that were just tiny details that meant nothing in the long game. Lucas would forget about all of that, and soon enough, I would, too. Besides, summer rain is never supposed to last. It refreshes things for awhile, but it rarely captures anyone's interest. Fire is interesting, and they were the fire pairing. Nothing could change that.

The silence in the room is deafening, and I could barely understand how much time had passed. Seconds, maybe minutes. It could have been hours for all I knew. All eyes were on Maya, because I had finally snapped and directed things towards her. She couldn't keep her feelings pent up inside forever. That was only going to hurt her even more, and she didn't deserve to hurt. I wanted Maya to be happy.

I glanced around the room - my eyes fixating on the makeshift bay window Maya and I created earlier. It wasn't home, but then again, the mere thought of "home" was terrible. Things were never going to be the same anymore. I had let him go, and I would have to deal with the consequences from that. Lucas would be Maya's, and I had to keep up this whole brother act until it became real. Right now, my feelings didn't matter. Maya thought I saw him as a brother, and so that was how I saw him from now on.

My eyes were stinging and I swallowed hard, plopping down on my seat at our makeshift bay window. I needed to get better control of myself for Lucas's sake. For Maya's sake.

The thing that matters least of all is that my final words were true - I did love him. And I knew how now. Sure, it wasn't the way I was trying to convince everyone of, but that especially did not matter. It didn't matter that he made me feel like I could breathe. It didn't matter that my pulse thudded in my vein every time he was around, every single time he said my name. It didn't matter that I had been hoping that maybe someday, we could be something more than friends again.

We never really had been too good at holding hands. That much was the truth. It didn't matter that it felt okay to be with him, despite the fact that neither of us were ready yet. Now we never would be, and that was fine, too. Everything was going to be perfectly fine because Lucas and Maya could be together. Farkle had Smackle, my parents had one another, Uncle Shawn had Katy. Everyone had someone, everybody could be happy, or at least content. That was all I had ever wanted for the people I loved. If they were happy, it meant I would be happy by association soon enough.

Everything took time. This was obviously one of those things, which made sense.

From now on, he was my brother.

And I was his sister.

. . .

 **A/N: Part one completely crushed my soul and tore my heart out of my chest. I feel so bad for Riley, as well as Lucas and Maya. Anyway, this is my interpretation of the few minutes that come after Riley's supposed "confession." I haven't seen part two yet, but I'm really looking forward to it. :) Thank you for reading!**


	7. Wonderwall

wonderwall

(noun):

the person of which you have a total infatuation with;

a person with an indescribable aura, making them seem so perfect, almost intangible;

the person that you feel could be the one to "save you" from whatever unhappiness or emptiness you feel;

the person you feel could complete you;

 _your soulmate_

. . .

Riley Matthews. The pretty brunette who never gave up on anyone or anything, and no sacrifice was too big for her friends. She was the girl that would let go of anything if it meant making the people she loved happy. Even if it meant that she would be the only person left unhappy in the long run.

And it didn't matter. It didn't matter that she felt like she was on top of the world whenever she was with him. It didn't matter that she felt like she could do anything in the world as long as they were together. It didn't matter that she believed in him more than she had believed in anything - even Pluto. Because, in a way, he was her own personal Pluto. She would never stop believing in him.

That didn't matter either, though.

The date's all wrong because it's Charlie Gardner, the boy who buys licorice instead of chocolate, the boy she can't even speak to without feeling wrong inside, and no no no. It was all wrong, everything was wrong, and something is finally out of her control. Right now, it's about Lucas and Maya and she could have sworn she was doing the right thing when she let him go for her best friend's sake, but now she's only a bundle of feelings. Right now, she's only your typical confused teenage girl who has a fair amount of angst in her life at the moment and is currently scared out of her mind.

She always knew that sometimes, doing the right thing was going to hurt her. But she never expected it to be so soon in life. And she most definitely never expected it to hurt this much; the kind of pain that was completely impossible to describe, just like everything else the three teenagers were feeling. All she knew was that it hurt, God, it hurt so bad and how could the right thing possibly tear her up so much inside?

School is difficult. They've reached a point where even Cory Matthews can't help them with their personal problems, and they're finally alone when it comes to this life thing. He's teaching them an actual lesson today, something that doesn't relate to their horrible situation at all, because even he has given up. It's out of his hands. Now, it's up to the three of them.

She's not even pretending to listen. Her date with Charlie Gardner keeps replaying in her head, and each time is worse than the last. Because he didn't hold her hand, they barely said a thing to one another, he didn't know about the New York Knicks and he didn't have interesting stories to tell her about faraway places with beautifully starry skies, and it's all so, so wrong.

The right thing should not feel this terribly wrong to her.

She feels better when she's with him, with his Ranger Rick stories, despite how uncomfortable they are with each other. She makes the mistake of asking him about how his date with Maya went, and the silence overpowering them is deafening. They don't talk throughout the rest of their trek to English class, they don't speak when Harper Burgess notices the tenseness between the group and questions them about what's wrong.

There's only one word that can answer that question: everything. They're all currently living in a world where everything is completely wrong, and they're all too confused to take it on.

They don't have any other classes in common until P.E., which is their final class of the day, and she can't stop herself from thinking that must be a gift from the gods right about now. A couple hours where she can't run into Lucas, Farkle, or Maya suddenly seems a lot less annoying than it did just a few days ago.

It takes her awhile to remember lunch.

Because, oh right. There's something else they have in common.

He makes the mistake of asking her how her date with Charlie Gardner went, and this time she's the one that causes the awkward silence between them. And this time, it isn't due to nervousness.

Lunch with her four best friends is a lot more painful than she ever could have anticipated. Farkle and Zay, to their credit, try to make conversation but it's no use. The trio are all too caught up in their own thoughts to even engage in conversation with each other, and after awhile the two friends begin to realize that their efforts are basically pointless. There's no way they could possibly snap Riley, Lucas, or Maya out of their individual dazes.

Still, the pretty brunette can't keep herself from sneaking glimpses at her so-called "brother," who of course she couldn't see as a brother. Not in New York, or Texas, or anywhere. Not even if they really were in Paris together. He is Lucas, and she is Riley, and they didn't have a brotherly-sisterly relationship at all. She tried so hard to convince herself, to convince him, but it was useless. Pointless, hopeless.

Auggie was right. She only had one brother, and it was most certainly not Lucas Friar.

The sadness she feels inside isn't as bad when she's near him. Oh, it's still there, all right, and she sincerely doubted it would be leaving anytime soon. But it's almost as if the new hole in her chest patches itself up whenever she's around him. He was saving her from herself, and he didn't even know it.

He couldn't know it. Even if she couldn't convince herself that they could never be anything more than friends, she needed to convince him. For her best friend, who had stepped back. Now it was Riley's turn to step back. No matter how terrible it made her feel inside. At the end of the day, it was still the right thing to do. It had to be.

"Riley?"

She snaps her head up the second he says her name, and she immediately wants to kick herself. She would never be successful at convincing anyone that she saw him as a brother if she kept acting like she had feelings for him. It was time to start building up her won personal walls. Not just to keep him out, but Maya and Zay, too. (Because it was obviously too late to try to convince Farkle of her supposed brotherly feelings for Lucas. Farkle, her only ally in this confusion.)

"Lucas?" They're playing the name game again, the game they've been playing with each other since the day they met, and she can't stop herself. It's so easy to pretend that everything to back to normal when they're acting this way to one another. She knows it's wrong, she knows it's only going to hurt her more when it's time to snap back into the real world. But she honestly can't stop herself.

"I think we should talk." Because what kind of friendship would they have if they couldn't even communicate with each other?

Oh, right. The same exact kind of friendship that everyone in their group had with each other.

The bell rings just in time, and she nearly breathes a sigh of relief. She was certain that she had to push him away, not just for Maya's sake, but for her own, as well. In theory, all of this was going to be a lot easier if she just had a little time away from everything and everybody. "I should get to class," she finds herself mumbling, jumping up and slipping out of the cafeteria before anyone can even ask her what might be wrong.

Farkle already knows. Zay already knows. But she still needed to keep Maya and Lucas in the dark.

They would thank her for this later. She knew that they would.

After all, wasn't this how everything was supposed to happen?

. . .

 **A/N: I loved Girl Meets Texas, honestly. Although part three was definitely my personal favorite. I have a lot of hope for Rucas still, and I hope you guys do, as well! :) Feel free to leave your thoughts on this one shot. It's a bit different from what I usually write, so I'd love to hear what oyu guys think.**

 **Still don't own Girl Meets World. Haven't we gone over this already?**


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